In Our World: Book 2
by matthewmspace
Summary: It's been a few months since the 5's adventure in Book 1. It's also Skilene day! But add a crazy dolphin to the mix and everything just goes through the portal.
1. Chapter 1 - Skilene Day

Hello and welcome to the first chapter of "In Our World: Book 2." First of all, if you haven't read Book 1 yet, please exit this story and go read that story first. Otherwise, this story will make absolutely no sense. Then come back and read this. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom and (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another. Oh, and the adventure starts in their universe. Now let's get onto the adventure!

**CHAPTER 1 – Skilene Day**

It was a beautiful day in New York City. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, and it was perfectly sunny. Mysteriously, the Central Park Zoo had been closed for the day. Of course, this was due to the Penguins, unbeknownst by the humans. They even managed to get Alice out of their feathers for the day with no substitute needed.

Why you ask? To prepare for one of the biggest days the zoo would ever see: the marriage of Skipper and Marlene. Since they and the rest of the Penguins had come back from wherever they had been, they'd been getting closer and closer together as a couple.

A week earlier, Skipper had proposed to Marlene. That was the perfect night. The moon was out and candles had been set up in Marlene's habitat. Skipper serenaded Marlene with his fantastic Spanish guitar skills * and gave Marlene a bouquet of oysters on half shells spelling out "Marlene." She happily and excitedly accepted.

The following week had been busy for both parties. When the zoo was closed at night, they both had been preparing for the wedding. Skipper and his team had been running around like mad looking for the perfect bowtie to go with his natural tuxedo and, of course, the perfect rings for Skipper and Marlene.

Marlene had also been running around like mad looking for the perfect wedding dress to go with her brown and white fur. She also looked for dresses for Becky and Stacy, who were her bridesmaids.

Skipper and Marlene could hardly wait for the next day. But they both fell asleep, dreaming of what they hoped their lives would be like during and after the wedding. (P to Marlene's habitat the next morning)

"You look beautiful Marlene," Becky said. "You really think so?" Marlene asked, in her dress. "Yes, Marlene. Skipper is one lucky bird," Stacy replied. "Thanks, girls. I'm so glad you agreed to be my bridesmaids," Marlene replied. "No problem cousin," the badgers both said.

"We'll see you in an hour, Marlene, at the altar. We just need to make sure our dresses fit as well," Becky said. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" Marlene asked, concerned. "It's your day, Marlene. You should relax. We're fine," Stacy said. "Well, see you girls later!" Marlene said. The badgers exited the cave and headed back to their habitat. (P to Marlene herself)

"I can't believe I'm finally getting married to Skipper!" I thought. "I almost thought this day would never come. I can't believe I owe it to Kowalski for sending us to that parallel universe. And of course, to Matthew for helping us. ** Without him, I don't know where the five us would be right now. We'd probably be in zoos there or living on the outskirts of civilization. I probably would be all the way across his world from the guys, and of course, Skipper. And, by both direct and indirect action, he got us to admit our feelings to each other and arrive at today. I can't wait to be married!" *** (P to the Penguins HQ)

"That's a really nice bow tie, Skipper," Private said to his leader. "Well thank you Private," Skipper replied. "I'm glad we didn't have to find a tuxedo for us all, since we've got natural ones." All four of the penguins laughed. "Skipper, I've calculated the odds of a perfect wedding occurring today and they are at 100% probability," Kowalski said.

"Outstanding, Kowalski!" Skipper exclaimed. "Thank you for being the one to wed us." "Where did you learn that Kowalski?" Private asked. "I received a license on the Internet with Alice's computer. It's good we learned to read, otherwise I would be unable to," Kowalski replied.

"That was a great idea Kowalski, almost as great as your Transporter thing," Skipper said. "You mean my Multi-Dimensional Transporter?" Kowalski asked. "Yes, Kowalski. Without it, I don't think Marlene and I would ever be getting married. Now, go you three, I'll be along shortly," Skipper said. With that, the three penguins left the HQ to go prepare the chairs, the aisle, and of course, the altar. (P to Skipper himself)

"I can't believe I'm finally marrying Marlene. We really are perfect for each other," I thought. "She's the smartest mammal I know, not to mention the most beautiful woman I know. I really should let Kowalski invent more often since that Teleporter he made helped bring us together," I continued inside my head.

I can't believe I also owe today to a human. **** Without that human, I don't know where the five of us would be. We'd probably be in government labs filled with needles, separated from each other, or worse. I don't think I would be able to live without my men or Marlene. I can't wait to be her husband!" I thought. *****

(P to Coney Island)

"Red One, show me what the pen-gu-wins are doing," Blowhole said to his lobster. Suddenly, on the screens in front of Blowhole, he could see everything going on in the zoo. "Doc the audio's out," Red One said. "I knew I should have set aside a bigger budget for those cameras!" Blowhole shouted. (P to Blowhole himself)

"What's going on with you today, Pen-gu-wins?" I thought to myself. I noticed many chairs on two sides of a walkway leading to an… altar? Hmm… "I wonder if there's any way I can use this opportunity against my arch-foes?" I continued thinking.

I tapped a button on my control panel and the cameras started cycling through on the screen. I stopped when I saw… an otter in a wedding dress? "I swear, that zoo gets stranger and stranger every day," I thought to myself. I wondered whom the otter could be marrying and if I could use that against Skipper and his men.

"Red One, show me the camera inside the Pen-gu-win HQ," I said to my lobster again. The screen changed to the only area I could ever see, the area their TV was facing. Something seemed up with Skipper, who appeared to be the only one around. Suddenly, he turned around and was wearing a black bow tie! "Skipper wearing a tie, I never thought I'd see that," I thought to myself.

Skipper suddenly walked out of the camera frame, only to return a few moments later, holding two small round objects. Suddenly I saw one was a diamond ring! I knew exactly what was going on then. "Skipper found himself a woman he truly cares for, eh?" I thought to myself. Suddenly, another one of my ingenious plans came into my head.

"Red One, prepare my flying pod, a cage, and my Portablizer," I said commanded my lobster. He quickly left, along with a few others. I love them having an overwhelming fear of my wrath. It makes it so much easier to get things done around here. (P To The Zoo In An Hour)

Finally, it was time for the wedding. Skipper, Kowalski, and Private were all waiting on the altar, watching Marlene approach it. Becky and Stacy were in their dresses were also watching Marlene walk down the aisle. Roger was playing the piano in the background. There was a smile on every animal's face. It was one of the happiest days they'd ever see.

Suddenly, a cage dropped down on Marlene! "Missed me, Pen-gu-wins?" Blowhole cackled, as he brought the cage up to his level. "You are not on the guest list, so leave and give me back Marlene!" Skipper cried. "My, my, Skipper, you really do care for this one don't you?" Blowhole replied. "Help!" Marlene shouted with a whimper. "You do anything to her, anything at all, and I swear, it'll be the last thing you ever do!" Skipper shouted at Blowhole.

"I doubt that," Blowhole said, as he pressed a button on his Segway, which was in the flying pod's bubble. Suddenly, a portal appeared behind him. "You want her, Skipper?" Blowhole asked. "Then come and get her," he said, before going through the portal. "After him boys!" Skipper shouted. The four Penguins quickly were able to get into the portal before it closed behind them.

All Marlene could do in her cage was hope that someone would rescue her, until an idea came into her head. (P to Marlene) "How could I forget that I have claws? I'll hack the lock with my claws!" I thought to myself. I let one paw release my claws and swiped them against the lock, breaking it.

I quickly jumped out of the cage towards Skipper and the guys. Suddenly, a portal opened up in front of me and there was nothing I could do. "Skipper!" I shouted as I passed through the portal. (P to the Penguins and Blowhole)

"Marlene!" Skipper cried. All four Penguins quickly jumped towards the portal, but it closed behind Marlene. "Now face the wrath of my knockouterizer!" Blowhole shouted. "That's really the best name you can come up with?" Kowalski retorted at Blowhole. "It may be a work in progress, but I still made it before you. My brain is bigger than your whole body!" Blowhole said.

After dodging for a few minutes, none of the Penguins had been hit with the invention's blasts. Blowhole decided to change his tactic and made the machine release an entire wall of energy towards them. That, unfortunately, worked. As they were falling back and blacking out, all Skipper could say was "Blowhole, I will find you and get Marlene back."

The four then blacked out. It seemed like Blowhole was about to capture them, when they fell through a portal of their own, which promptly closed. (P to Blowhole himself)

"I knew I should have accounted for that possibility," I thought to myself. "Leave it to me to get over cocky and lose both my captive and those darn Pen-gu-wins!" Suddenly another Portal opened behind me. I quickly went through it, hoping to find either my foes or my captive.

That's it for chapter 1. It was beautiful, until Blowhole interrupted it! Curse that overgrown guppy (to use Skipper's words, I think). I'll see you in the next chapter. Time for notes.

* Reference to Littlefoot, where it was revealed Skipper knows how to play the Spanish guitar.

** Marlene in Book 1 had sold me on the idea that I had helped bring her and Skipper together, despite me trying to say it was all them. I guess she still believes I helped her a lot more than I did.

*** It was fun to write what Marlene would probably think if she and Skipper were to be married.

**** Skipper in Book 1 had sold me on the idea that I had helped bring himself and Marlene together, despite me trying to say it was all them. I guess he still believes I helped him a lot more than I did.

***** It was also really fun to get into Skipper's head.


	2. Chapter 2 - Four Lost Penguins

Welcome to chapter 2! As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom and (P) means a perspective change from one character to another. Oh, and from here on out until I say so, everyone's in our world. So let's get to the story.

**CHAPTER 2 – Four Lost Penguins**

In a small alley in a big city, usually nothing ever goes on. Today, however, a portal opened up above a dumpster. 4 unconscious penguins were dropped into it. After about 10 minutes, they all started to wake up.

"Ooh, corn dog!" Rico said happily after seeing one, and then ate it. * "Status report, Kowalski," Skipper said. "We have entered that universe from last time Skipper," Kowalski said. "Yes, but we're in a different location, Kowalski. Give me the location!" Skipper said, frustrated with letting Marlene be taken from him.

"Give me a minute, Skipper. Let me look at nearby landmarks," Kowalski said. He poked his head out into the main street and saw many humans passing by, but luckily they were too busy talking to each other to notice Kowalski. After panning his head up and around, Kowalski returned to the other Penguins behind the dumpster.

"So where are we Kowalski?" Skipper asked. "Based on the building design, the palm trees, and that Hollywood sign out in the distance, I'd say we're in the Los Angeles of this universe," Kowalski replied. "Where's Marlene?" Skipper asked, concerned. "Unknown, Skipper. She could be anywhere in this or any dimension," Kowalski said. "Fish and chips man!" Skipper exclaimed.

Just then one of the video billboards nearby changed from moving advertisements to the news. There were subtitles at the bottom, since no sound was coming out. All four penguins saw the change and started reading and watching.

"This just in! Big news up north in San Francisco!" the newscaster was saying, since the Penguins were reading the subtitles. The camera changed from a news desk to a camera on the ground in downtown San Francisco. "Up above, there's a strange creature in a floating bubble. We have no clue what this is or how it got here, but it appeared from a portal-looking circle," the reporter said.

"Kowalski, is that Blowhole?" Private asked. "It appears so," Kowalski said. "Time to San Francisco from our present location?" Skipper asked. "By walking, it would take us nearly 6 days, not accounting for bathroom or food breaks. However, if we commandeer a car, it would take us five and a half hours to get there, plus more for food and bathroom breaks, not to mention getting gas for the car every so often," Kowalski said.

"Do we have our jet packs?" Skipper asked. "Rico, what do you have?" Kowalski asked the bird. Rico regurgitated a few smoke bombs, a few stink bombs, some knockout bombs, a dozen parachutes, his flamethrower, and his chainsaw. "That's it," Rico mumbled. "Kowalski, could we get the necessary parts for our jet packs?" Skipper asked, desperately hoping to cut their travel time down.

"Skipper, I've calculated our odds of being able to use parts from this universe and they are unfortunately at 0% due to different physics in this universe. Sorry," Kowalski said. "Men, find a vehicle great on gas mileage and speed," Skipper ordered. The Penguins quickly looked around for such as car. They found one in the form of a Toyota Prius **.

"Kowalski, how much fuel is in this car?" Skipper asked. "A full tank, Skipper," Kowalski replied. "Let's go!" Skipper commanded and off they went. (P to Skipper's thoughts)

"I always tell myself, _expect the unexpected_, yet I've failed in that today," I thought. "I let Marlene get separated from us. I hate that Bottlenose. He always finds ways to get down into what bothers me. If he wanted to play my heartstrings like a fiddle, he certainly found a way, by taking my soon-to-be wife. I hope she's all right. I've got to think of one heck of an apology," I continued thinking.

And that's the end of chapter 2. Please rate and review. See you in chapter 3! Time for notes.

* Reference to "Siege The Day" when the Penguins kept landing in the dumpster and Rico found a corndog each time.

** First car I could think of. Plus, it gets to nearly 50 miles to the gallon in some models.


	3. Chapter 3 - An Old Friend

Welcome to chapter 3! As usual *'s means there are notes at the bottom and (P) means perspective change from one character to another. Let's get reading shall we?

**CHAPTER 3 – An Old Friend**

(P to Marlene)

"Skipper!" I cried as I passed through the portal. As I heard him start to shout my name, the portal closed behind me! I was passing through a tunnel of some kind, which means Blowhole must've done something that Kowalski didn't do last time. Also, Blowhole stinks! He ruined what I thought was going to be the perfect day! I thought Skipper and the guys had finally defeated him, but I guess not. Suddenly, a portal appeared a little bit in front of me.

Not knowing where I was going to wind up scared me, and without the Penguins I was doubly scared. No one protected me as good as the Penguins. I didn't know if I would wind up as a pelt or be eaten! I was more scared than when I temporarily had lost my feral side and was scared of literally everything! *

I braced for going through the portal. Suddenly I did and I hit some very tall grass. Luckily, this time, I didn't land on my head, so I didn't black out. But I still was scared. I felt slightly relieved when Blowhole was nowhere in sight, but was still scared due to the lack of any Penguins! Without them, I couldn't go home or have anything to defend myself with other than my claws. "Calm down, Marlene. You will get through this," I said to myself. I slowed my breathing down and got calmer.

I looked around again to see if there was anything that could help me. I could tell I was in a human suburb, in front of a house with a porch and a driveway a few feet away next to the grass I was on. It looked familiar, but I couldn't quite put my paw on it. I suddenly heard what sounded like a car engine and panicked again for my safety, diving quickly for underneath one of the chairs on the porch. I nearly tore a hole in my dress, but luckily did not.

(P to Myself)

"It's been a few months since my adventure with the Penguins and Marlene," I thought to myself while driving. "That picture of Skipper and Marlene really perked the Skilene community back up. Many people had asked how I created such a photo. Of course, outside the realm of the Skilene fans, no one else knew of the photo. No one but me even knew of my adventure, not even the community," I continued thinking.

"I mean, what am I supposed to say to people, that I hung out with 5 animals from a TV show? They'd think I was crazy and that I'd need mental treatment," I continued thinking. ** I do wonder how Marlene and Skipper are doing, though. When they left, it seemed everything was excellent. I'd ask them how, but as of having no means to go to their universe or contact them, I'm left to just speculate."

As I was slowly driving down the street leading to mine, the same path Marlene and I had taken months earlier to the supermarket, I thought I saw a faint pink glow, which quickly faded. I couldn't see anything other than the glow, but my interest was already up. I didn't know if Kowalski sent them all here again or if they were here for another reason. I continued obeying the speed limit as I continued on my short drive, even with my interest piqued.

Driving down my street, I swore I saw a brown and white figure in a dress, but after I blinked rapidly, it was gone. I parked my car and decided to see if it was really Marlene or just my imagination. I walked onto the grass and just said aloud "Marlene? Are you here or am I imagining you guys again?" (P to Marlene)

I was still in my hiding spot when the car had parked in the driveway. It, too looked familiar, at least from my vantage point. But I wasn't too sure, so I stayed beneath the chair. Suddenly, a human walked over to the grass from where the car was parked. He also looked familiar. I still was unsure until I heard him say _Marlene? Are you here or am I imagining you guys again?_ If he knew of us, then it was definitely Matthew from last time. I poked my head out and said "Matthew?" nervously.

I guess he had heard myself and he turned around. "Marlene? Hey, it really is you!" he said. I ran out from underneath the chair and sprinted towards him. I guess I underestimated my own strength because I accidentally tackled him, but he didn't seem to care. "Well, hello, Marlene," he said after he lifted his head up. "That's a beautiful dress you have," he continued. "Thanks. It's really nice to see you as well," I replied and hugged him. (P back to me)

"So what's the occasion?" I asked, after Marlene let go. "Skipper and I are about to be married," Marlene replied. "That's great! I was just wondering how you two were doing. How'd he propose?" I asked. "Oh it was beautiful. He set up candles in my cave and under the moonlight serenaded me with his Spanish guitar and gave me a bouquet of oysters on half shells spelling my name," Marlene answered. ***

"Aww, that's sweet. So where is he?" I asked. Suddenly, Marlene's cheerful expression fell fast. "That's the problem. I don't know. We were all at the wedding when I was walking down the aisle and Blowhole tried to capture me! Luckily I escaped, but I have no clue where the Penguins or Blowhole are," she answered.

I felt very guilty and sorry. "I'm so sorry, Marlene. It's my fault you were nearly kidnapped. If I hadn't helped you two out, none of this would have happened," I apologized. Suddenly Marlene also looked apologetic.

"It's alright, Matthew. It's not your fault Blowhole is evil. I'm sure even if we had never come here, we'd eventually have had the same problem either way. And even if we somehow wound up in this same position, I don't know what I'd do. At least I have a friend who can try and help me," Marlene said.

"I'm still sorry, Marlene, but you're right. I'm sure that Blowhole would have eventually detected the connection between you two and would have gone for it. Plus, if you had wound up here in the same way, I don't know what we'd do or if you would trust me. I'm glad you're my friend too," I said.

Suddenly my phone started buzzing a lot in my pocket. I took it out and I could see I was getting many notifications from social media and news apps. "What's going on?" Marlene asked, noticing I was staring at my phone. "I'm not sure. All these apps say something's going on in San Francisco. Want to come inside? You look like you could use a breather," I said. "Sure. Where's your family?" Marlene asked.

"Well, my parents are out of town for the week, my dog is at our friend's house, and my brother is also there. So I've got the house to myself for a number of days, which seems like it'll be really useful, since I don't exactly know how to explain to them that I know you," I said. **** Marlene chuckled. "That would be difficult. So what's going on in San Francisco?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I've just got to find the remote to the TV. Ah, here it is!" I said as I turned it on. Marlene and I both sat down on the couch facing the TV. I guess when I'd turned the TV off last, I had left it on Nick, and so the Penguins' show was on. "So that's the extent of how people know about us?" Marlene asked, speaking of herself and the Penguins. "Yes, Marlene. Now what channel's the news channel?" I asked myself. "Oh, right, it's that channel," I said. I flipped to that channel, wondering what was going on.

"That's right guys. This is a live feed from the ground here in San Francisco," the cameraman was saying. "There's some weird creature in a floating bubble up in the sky. We have no clue how it came here, yet it came from a portal or something just a few moments ago," the newscaster continued.

"Blowhole," Marlene and I both said. We muted the TV. "What could he be doing there?" Marlene asked. "I'm not sure. He doesn't yet look like he knows he's from TV, so I assume he's looking for you and the Penguins," I answered. "Why can't he just leave Skipper and I alone?" Marlene asked, while sobbing a bit.

"Please don't cry Marlene. I'm sure we can fix this. We just need to figure out how," I said, trying to comfort her. "How? We don't have the Penguins, we don't have a Stopwatch, and we don't even have that lab anymore," she continued. ***** "Well, I'm sure with your knowledge of the Penguins and Blowhole and my being human will allow us to accomplish something," I said, continuing to try and comfort Marlene. I think that worked, because she stopped crying.

"You're right. We can do this. Could you help me store my dress in a safe place? I don't want to take any chances with it," she said. "Sure Marlene," I replied. She carefully took off her dress and we carefully put it in a clean drawer with nothing else inside. "So what's your plan?" Marlene asked, very determined.

Poor Marlene with having to go through all of this. Curse that dolphin. At least she has an ally to help her now. Plus, we've both come to terms with the situation and I helped her worry less and stop crying. See you in chapter 4. Please rate and review this one in the interim. Time for notes.

* Reference to Littlefoot when Marlene's feral side was split from her and Marlene became afraid of everything.

** Seriously, would you be able to explain to people that you met The Penguins Of Madagascar and Marlene without them thinking you're crazy?

*** I'm repeating the story here, but that's so the character of myself knows what happened.

**** Easiest way for Marlene and I to interact without anyone raising any questions or interfering.

***** Poor Marlene. All she wants to do is marry Skipper and live their lives together. How dare Blowhole interfere!


	4. Chapter 4 - Of Trains and Cars

Welcome to chapter 4. I hope you like Book 2 of "In Our World" so far. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom and (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another. _Italicized_ text means I'm quoting what a character said before. Let's get reading shall we?

**CHAPTER 4 – Of Trains and Cars**

"Well, I've got a general idea of us getting into the city, getting you a disguise, and figuring out what Blowhole's plan is," I said. "That's a good start. So how are we getting there?" Marlene asked. "Well, we could drive around the whole bay and come up from the south, but that would take awhile," I suggested.

"We could go over the bridge from the east, but Blowhole might somehow spot you in the car. Our best plan, I think, is to take BART underneath the bay and then go from there," I suggested. "What's BART?" Marlene asked. "It's almost the same thing as the subway," I answered.

"Well, how am I supposed to get on the train? I'm not exactly a human," Marlene said. "Oh. Good point. Let me think… I've got it!" I exclaimed. "Well, how about a canvas bag?" I asked. "A bag?" Marlene asked. "Don't worry. Air always flows into it and I can place it over my shoulder and you can safely rest inside," I said.

"That sounds fine, but how will we communicate on the train? Won't it look suspicious with you talking to a bag and it talking back?" Marlene asked. "We can communicate by texting. I've got an old phone, which I can give service to and we'll be able to talk by text. A teenager looking at a phone isn't suspicious at all. Lately, it's been the norm. And since you have paws, and not flippers, you'll be able to use the phone's touchscreen," I said.

"Good idea. So how long will we be on the train for?" Marlene asked. "Well, usually if there's no problems with the trains, it usually takes no more than an hour," I replied. "What do you mean by a problem?" Marlene asked. "Well, if there's many trains on the tracks, then the trains have to stop more often. Or if they're doing some maintenance, it takes a few minutes longer as well," I answered.

"That's a relief. I thought there would be major problems like trains randomly stopping. Let's go!" Marlene said. We both got in the car and I started driving us to the BART station. After we parked, I put the phone in the bag, along with my wallet.

"Are you ready Marlene?" I asked, making sure she wanted to go through with this. "I was born ready," she replied and jumped into the bag. "You're really getting to sound like Skipper," I said. "You think so?" Marlene asked from inside. "Yes, that definitely sounds like something Skipper would say," I replied. At this point, we continued all our conversations by text. *

Me: Are you all right in there Marlene?

Marlene: Yep. It's actually nice in here. I can still breathe and the sun isn't in my eyes.

Me: That's good. Hold on for a second, I'm buying our ticket. Could you pass me my wallet?

Marlene: Sure thing.

I took my wallet from Marlene and went through the process of buying a ticket. Once the machine gave me my ticket, I went through the ticket gate.

Me: I've got the ticket. If you feel like we're going up in a few seconds, that's due to an escalator.

Marlene: Oh, good. Thanks for the update. How crowded do you think the train will be?

Me: Well, it's a weekday, but it's past rush hour, so that'll make it less crowded. Plus, with the news of Blowhole being in San Francisco, people may have cancelled their plans to go there today.

Marlene: That'd definitely cut down on train passengers. I remember seeing on the Penguins' TV after Blowhole got control of the MP3 player ** that many humans avoided New York for a few days.

Me: Even though you guys were under control of that MP3 player, you're all really good singers. If I tried to sing, I'd probably sing terribly. ***

Marlene: No one sings as bad as the chameleons.

Me: That is so true. Also, the train looks to be nearly empty. I guess we were right about Blowhole affecting ridership.

Marlene: That quick, huh? The way that news spreads so fast between you guys still astonishes me. Maybe after all this, I can get the Penguins and myself some phones.

Me: That sounds like a good plan. Also, the train's moving now and there's no one else in this car. But because of the security cameras, I don't think we can take our chances with them seeing you. If someone sees you and me interacting, since there's no sound, they might think I abducted you from somewhere. But at least we can speak again.

"That and since Blowhole's causing this mess, I don't think any humans would be excited to see me, either, if they happened to come into this train or looked at the security cameras," Marlene said.

"It'd definitely confuse many people as to how you got here. Also, I've got a question," I said. "Go ahead," Marlene said, curious. "After this is all over, can I have a seat at the wedding?" I asked. "I'm sure Kowalski can find a way to turn me into an animal or can zap me with his Transmatterer," I finished.

"Of course," Marlene answered. "If you can get turned into an animal or invisible, you can be the official photographer. That way, Skipper and I will have photos and videos of that moment. Plus, it'll help that community you told me about last time. How is it?" she asked.

"Oh, it's definitely grown since that photo of you two went up," I answered. I've gotten lots of questions about it. If I told any of them that I actually know you, though, I think they'd want to meet you guys as well. And thanks for that spot at the wedding," I said. "No problem," Marlene said.

Suddenly, my phone began vibrating like mad again. It was another news bulletin saying to go to their site to see a live video. I forwarded the link to Marlene's phone.

"What's this link?" Marlene asked. "I'm not sure, but it's another update from San Francisco," I said. We both clicked on the link and it was another live camera. Only this time, it was showing Blowhole and he looked like he had something on his mind to say. Suddenly he started speaking into the camera.

"Humans!" he said. "I have come here looking for 4 penguins and an otter. They are not normal animals. First of all, they can talk, like you and me. The Penguins names are Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. They are 4 military Penguins who are my arch-foes," Blowhole said.

The otter's name is Marlene," he continued. Both Marlene and I quivered a bit at the sound of him saying that. "She's in love with the Penguin named Skipper. Give them up, and nothing will happen to you. Don't give them up and well we'll get to that later," he finished. He cackled with his signature dolphin laugh and flew off.

(P to the Penguins in the car)

"Kowalski, scan the airwaves for the news. We need to know what's going on in San Francisco," Skipper said. "Yes sir," Kowalski said and began turning the dial for the news station. "Found it, Skipper," Kowalski said. They all began listening to the news when they suddenly heard Blowhole speak.

"Humans!" Blowhole said. "I have come here looking for 4 penguins and an otter," he said. "Oh, that's not good," Private commented. "They are not normal animals. First of all, they can talk, like you and me," Blowhole continued. "So how are they understanding him?" Kowalski asked aloud.

"The Penguins names are Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. They are 4 military Penguins who are my arch-foes," Blowhole said. The four Penguins looked nervously at each other. Blowhole continued again, "The otter's name is Marlene. She's in love with the Penguin named Skipper," he continued. "Curse you, you Bottlenose freak!" Skipper shouted angrily.

"Give them up, and nothing will happen to you. Don't give them up and well, we'll get to that later," Blowhole finished. He cackled with his signature dolphin laugh and the audio cut out. "Kowalski, time to our destination," Skipper ordered. "4 hours currently Skipper," Kowalski replied.

"Men, we've got to get Marlene back and defeat Blowhole. Did it sound like to you that he had her?" Skipper asked Kowalski. "Negative, Skipper. He said _give them up_, which means he was talking about all five of us, so he does not. But I still don't know where Marlene could be, other than us knowing she's in this universe," Kowalski answered.

"Well, that's some good relief for now. But we've still got to defeat Blowhole! Kowalski, work on some options," Skipper ordered. (P to Skipper)

"Thank goodness Blowhole doesn't have Marlene. I don't want to know what he'd do to her if he did," I thought to myself. "I hope wherever she is, she's safe."

Oh, crud. Well, at least the Penguins are on their way along with Marlene and myself. Please rate and review this chapter. See you in chapter 5. Time for notes.

* Seriously, texting is a great invention. So many useful purposes.

** Reference to the second half "The Return Of The Revenge of Dr. Blowhole" where Blowhole got control of Julian's MP3 player.

*** I'm terrible at singing. The mind-manipulating MP3 player might help, but no experience with that means I'll never know.


	5. Chapter 5 - San Francisco

Welcome to chapter 5. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting what someone said before. So let's get reading, eh?

**CHAPTER 5 – San Francisco**

After Blowhole flew away from the camera, both Marlene and I locked our phones. I was nervous, but since I couldn't see Marlene I didn't know. But based on the minor shaking of the bag, I guessed she was. "Are you sure you want to go through with this Marlene? I mean if you want to turn back now, I'm fine with that. Honestly I'm nervous, too," I said to her.

She didn't respond for a minute. Then Marlene said, "I think we should go through with this. We need to fix whatever damage Blowhole's done and find the Penguins. We're not going to stop until I'm back with Skipper!" she shouted.

"Wow. Just, wow. You really sounded like Skipper there," I said. "And you're right. We should go on. Imagine the shock Skipper would get if we defeated Blowhole. It'd make him darn proud of you," I finished. Suddenly, Marlene realized what she had said.

"Wow. You're right, I am getting to sound like Skipper. I would also love to see the look on Skipper's face if we defeated Blowhole while they were out of commission. So how far are we from our stop?" she asked.

"Well, we're in the transbay tube under the bay right now, so we could get off at the next stop but let's wait for the third stop in the city, which is Powell. Prepare for a shift in angle, I'm going to put you over my shoulder again," I said. "Ready," Marlene replied. I carefully picked up the bag and slowly turned it until it could be put over my shoulder.

Once again I asked, "Are you sure you're alright in there Marlene?" "That was a nice, slow transition, not a fast and rough one. Thanks for being careful and yes, I am," she answered. "Ok, good. We're at our stop now," I said. "No turning back now, huh?" Marlene asked. "Nope. No turning back now," I replied.

I went up the elevator this time and went through the gate no problem. "Almost there, Marlene. We just need to get up on an escalator and we'll be above ground," I said. When I reached the top and stepped out, I was shocked at what I saw. "Whoa. Blowhole really scared everyone away," I said. "What do you mean?" Marlene asked. "I mean there's no one here. I've never seen San Francisco so empty," I answered.

"Well, we're not singing, so that's a good sign," Marlene said. "We should still try to find somewhere out of the open, like Moscone... Ok, that's a good idea," I said, just thinking of it. "Where and what is Moscone?" Marlene asked. "It's about five short blocks away. They usually hold conferences at it and there's actually one this week I was planning to go to anyway," I answered.

"What's the conference? It's not dogs, right? They'd smell me instantly," Marlene said fearing she might be discovered. "Nope, it's not a dog show. It's actually a computer show called Macworld/iWorld. * It's been going on for nearly 30 years," I answered.

"So where will we hide?" Marlene asked. "Well, the ticket is on my phone and we'll probably be able to hide in one of the many conference rooms when one isn't going on. They're fairly big and no one hangs around them long after a conference is over," I answered.

"How am I going to get in?" Marlene asked. "Well, just don't move around much until we get inside. Everyone thinks we've all got iPads in our bags, so if you stay still, we may be able to get through," I answered. "I'll try to stay still," she answered.

Suddenly an energy blast passed over my head. I didn't care what it was or where it was coming from, but I started running away like a maniac. "What's going on?" Marlene asked, stuttering a bit from the bouncing. "I think Blowhole is shooting at me!" I replied. "What's he shooting at you?" Marlene asked. "I'm not sure. It's an energy blast, I think," I said, while still running and dodging blasts. (P to Blowhole)

"Well, it certainly got boring after all the humans fled," I thought to myself. I was expecting at least a few of them to try and stop me. They're such a weak species, in any universe. Suddenly I noticed a human coming out from underground and stealthily waited to see what he would do if he spotted me.

He appeared to be talking to someone, but I couldn't hear as he was too far away. All he appeared to have was what looked like a canvas bag and a smartphone. He suddenly started walking away. I slowly followed him on my Segway, carefully going slow so he wouldn't hear me approaching.

I started to get bored with him after a few minutes and decided to have some fun. I pressed a button on my Segway and out popped my invisibility blaster. I waited until the opportune moment to fire. I fired and purposefully missed over his head.

I then could only make one word out what he was saying, which was _Blowhole_. That confused me for a moment. I never said to any of the humans what my name was. Obviously, this human knows more than the others as to what is going on. I'll have to keep tabs on him. I wonder what he's carrying in that bag of his. (P to myself)

"How far away are we from safety?" Marlene asked the best she could. "About…one…more…block," I said, breathing heavily. All of a sudden, the blasts stopped. I still didn't slow down, not for one second. But I looked in a car's rear view mirror and saw Blowhole had stopped following us.

Now I slowed down. "I think he's gone Marlene. He's stopped shooting at us," I said. "Are you alright?" I asked. "I'm a little shaken up and a bit dizzy, but otherwise I think I'm good. What was he shooting at us?" she asked. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure. The blast color did look familiar. It looked like the color Kowalski's Transmatterer makes when it shoots a blast, which is green," I explained. **

"An invisibility ray? That's better than a disintegration one by far. But if he hit you, I wouldn't know where to go after I can't see you. And if he hit the bag, he could've seen me. That would've sunk our plans immediately," Marlene said. "I don't even want to know what would happen if he saw you," I said.

"He'd have a powerful bargaining chip against Skipper. But I promise that'll never happen," I said. "Really?" Marlene asked. "Really. Also, being an honorary penguin is tough!" I said.

"It definitely is. Skipper made me one after he trained me on our dates. I never thought I'd have to go on an actual mission. Fighting X in the Snackitarium was hard without actual training, but fighting those Lunacorns was even harder," she replied. ***

"You did really well, though. You took down the most feared animal control officer in New York and someone who's destroyed countless worlds," I said, trying to cheer her back up. "But Skipper helped me both times. If it had been just me, I probably would have failed," she said, sighing.

"But you're not on your own now. I'm sure we'll find a way to trick him and defeat Blowhole," I explained. "You're right," she replied. "We're here, Marlene," I said, after we arrived at Moscone. I walked inside and scanned my ticket in the scanner. Mysteriously, though, no one was outside of the main hall and the door was closed. I decided to go upstairs into one of the conference rooms like Marlene and I had planned earlier.

Upstairs, the booths where people normally are were empty and all the doors to the rooms were locked, except for one. I went inside and no one was there. "You can come out now, Marlene. Also, there's no windows, so Blowhole can't see in here," I said. She poked her head out and then came out.

"Well, we certainly got lucky with that plan working," Marlene said, now sitting on a chair. "I agree. Now the hard part is figuring out how to beat that dolphin," I said. "What about that disguise plan you had?" she asked.

"I think that idea's been thrown out the window at this point, unfortunately. I had counted on people to stay and stare, but I guess everyone's gotten smarter at this point. I don't think we could make it all the way to Ghirardelli Square to get you your disguise without him spotting us again," I said. ****

Sounds like we're in a bit of a fix here. Please rate and review the story. Time for the usual notes.

* Google it. It's an awesome trade show. So many cool products have been on display in the last 30 years. Also, it's usually in March, but since it's been a few months since my adventure, it works. Also, yeah, I love Apple products.

** Reference to "Invention Intervention" when one of Kowalski's inventions yet again goes wrong.

*** Reference to both "Snowmageddon" and "Operation Lunacorn Apocalypse".

**** Google map the distance. It's a 45-minute walk though, in case you decide not to map it.


	6. Chapter 6 - A Worried Penguin

Welcome to chapter 6. I hope you like the story so far. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) symbol means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting what a character has said before. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 6 – A Worried Penguin**

It took a little while, but Kowalski had come up with a plan. "Skipper, I've come up with a plan for when we arrive in San Francisco," Kowalski said. "Outstanding, soldier. First of all, time to our destination," Skipper said. "We are about an hour and a half away from San Francisco, Skipper," Kowalski answered.

"Good. So what is your plan?" Skipper asked. "Well, I first think that since Blowhole showed up, there won't many humans outside anymore, so we'll be able to navigate this car easier without them," Kowalski explained.

"I propose we try to stun and mind jack him with one of Rico's knockout bombs and his own Segway," Kowalski said. "What about Marlene recovery options?" Skipper asked questioningly. "Well, I'm still certain he does not have Marlene, but we'll have to fan out and try to find her. What does your gut say?" Kowalski asked Skipper half-jokingly. *

"My gut is also saying Blowhole doesn't have Marlene, but it also says he nearly got to her. That worries me," Skipper said. "Don't worry Skipper. I'm sure Marlene's all right. Maybe she's even trying to defeat Blowhole," Private suggested. "Private, if Marlene took down Blowhole, that'd be a sight to see," Skipper replied.

"Huh. That's interesting," Skipper said after a minute. "What's interesting, Skipper?" Kowalski asked. "My gut is saying right now that she's got an ally," Skipper replied. "Any idea who?" Kowalski asked, curiously. "Kowalski, my gut isn't very specific, you know that," Skipper replied. "Well, at least she's got a friend, whoever it is," Private said cheerfully. (P to Skipper)

"Kowalski said we're in the same universe as before, right?" I thought to myself. "There's only one person I know in this universe that knows of us personally. It's that human, Matthew. Hopefully he's helping to protect Marlene. If Blowhole doesn't have her yet, then he's doing a better job than I did. I've still got to think of an apology to Marlene. I've already made her an honorary Penguin, so that's out," I kept thinking.

"Marlene taking down Blowhole would be great to watch, though. I mean, my soon-to-be wife taking down my arch foe? That would be great. She knows lots of moves, thanks to our training with her. Well, me training her on our dates," I continued thinking. **

"I'm sure she's ready, the question is if she knows that she's ready. Blowhole is a hard one to defeat. She might have Matthew, but we didn't have enough time to train him last time. I'll have to remind myself later to teach him some of our moves. I just hope Marlene is safe," I finished thinking.

Skipper is really determined to get Marlene back. Sorry this chapter was really short compared to my usual ones. But please rate and review. Time for a couple notes.

* Reference to "Gut Instinct."

** Skipper would definitely do that, there's not a doubt in my mind.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Show Floor

Welcome to chapter 7. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting a character. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 7 – The Show Floor**

"Do you have a plan, Marlene? Any plan is better than no plan," I said. "Well, you said we're at a computer expo, right? Maybe there's something on the show floor that can help us," Marlene suggested. "That's a good idea. I know a few years ago they had Taser cases for phones, so those might help," I said. *

"What do you mean by a Taser case?" Marlene asked. "You know the shocking stick X used against the Penguins? It's like that, but it's more portable and snaps onto the back of the phone. We could probably stun Blowhole for awhile with that," I explained. "Well, how are we going to get downstairs? I remember when we were going up the escalator there was lots of light shining through the bag from a window," Marlene said.

"This time, I think we could take the elevator. You'll still need to hide in it again until we get into the floor, though," I said apologetically. "If it means stopping Blowhole, I'm all for it," Marlene said determinedly. I knelt to the floor and put the bag over my shoulder and held it open and Marlene jumped inside.

"You really don't mind doing this every time?" I asked Marlene questioningly. "It's really ok. It's actually nice not having to walk around," Marlene said. "Tell that to my back," I said jokingly. With that, we both burst out laughing and went on our way to the door.

We stopped laughing when we reached the door, in order to be extra quiet as to not freak out the other people who were hiding in other rooms. We made it to the elevator without a hitch. Unfortunately, the expo floor was locked.

"Do you think use could pick the lock with a claw, Marlene?" I asked. "I can try," Marlene answered. She reached out a paw and put a single claw in the lock and it worked. She quickly retracted the claw. "Good job, Marlene," I complimented. "Thanks. That trick also worked to get me away from Blowhole in the first place, except I completely shattered the lock," she replied.

"I wish I had claws so I could do that," I said. I opened the door and no one was there again. I shut the door. "It's alright, Marlene, there's no one here again. She jumped out from the bag onto a table. "So where are those booths with the Tasers?" she asked. "Last time, they were on the left in the accessories department," I explained.

We headed in that direction, trying not to make too much noise to not disturb anyone upstairs. We searched around and found one charging on the wall. "Is this it?" Marlene asked. "Yep. Um, you might want to hold on the other side, though. The side you're holding is the shocking side," I explained. She quickly turned it around and handed it to me, not wanting to get shocked. "Here you go," Marlene said.

"Thank you," I said, putting the case on my phone. Suddenly, I spotted something else we could use. "Hey, I almost forgot about that," I said aloud. "Forgot about what?" Marlene asked. "The app-controlled dart shooter. It's a nerf gun so it won't do much, but it could distract him nonetheless," I explained. "I'll take that one," Marlene said, clearly wanting it.

"So how do I use this?" she asked. Well, we need to download the app, which I'll get right now," I said. I installed the app onto our phones and launched it on Marlene's phone. "Oh, I see. Cool there's a camera on the gun itself. It's got an angle adjuster, a target selector, and a shock function. Wait, a shock function?" she asked.

"That's new. I'd hate to see this in the hands of little kids. They'd wreak havoc with it," I said. We both laughed again, albeit softly. "Luckily, these darts have a special non-shocking container to go in," I explained. We quickly packed the darts in the container, not wanting to shock ourselves by accident.

"Is there anything that could help us?" Marlene asked. "Unless you want to throw an iPad at him, I don't think so," I explained. "Knowing him, he'd figure out a way to use it against us with his Segway," Marlene said.

"Yeah. At least we've got the electric darts and phone Taser to help us. The hard part will be actually taking him down. But when we shock him, let's Mind Jack him. It's the red button on his Segway," I explained. "That way he is so confused he doesn't know what do to. Also, let's send him back to Seaville," I finished. ** I saw him press the blue button on his Segway when he tried to kidnap me which activated the portal," Marlene said.

"That sounds like a good plan. Skipper would be proud of us," I said. "He sure would. I'd love to see the look on his face if we took down Blowhole all by ourselves," Marlene said. "Me too," I agreed. We walked towards the hall door, ready to face Blowhole once we got outside Moscone.

Awesome, go us! Please rate and review this chapter. Let's get to notes.

* Those actually exist. Seriously, look up videos on YouTube if you don't believe me.

** Reference to "The Penguin Who Loved Me," where Blowhole was still Mind Jacked until Parker got involved.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Beginning Of A Showdown

Welcome to chapter 8! As usual *'s means notes at the bottom, (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting a character. Let's go!

**CHAPTER 8 – The Beginning Of A Showdown**

"You don't want to hide this time?" I asked of Marlene as we walked towards the exit. "No. It's time we got over our fear of him. He's just another dolphin. We'll take him," Marlene said very determined. "I swear, the more we're on this adventure, the more you're getting to be like Skipper," I said.

Marlene smiled at the thought of that as we walked through the door, "I guess while we were dating, some of his personality rubbed off on me. At least I'm not paranoid of everybody," Marlene said. "If you were as paranoid as Skipper, you'd probably have taken me down the minute you got here," I said.

"But I did take you down, remember? I tackled you," Marlene said. I smiled at that. "That was a cheap shot. You ran towards me and I didn't have time to react, but I'll count that regardless," I said. (P to Blowhole)

"It's so hard to find your captive in any big city, no matter what dimension," I thought to myself. "Next time, I'm going to take a captive out to the middle of nowhere so I can spot them easier," I continued thinking while flying in my pod. Suddenly, the light from the sun reflected off something and I got blinded for a second.

"I need sunglasses later," I thought to myself while blinking. I suddenly saw two creatures walking out of a big building. Using my mechanical eye, I zoomed in to get a better look. * I saw that one of the creatures was the human from earlier. "I thought I scared him off," I thought to myself. I looked at the other creature and it was my former captive, the otter.

"I'll finally have my revenge on Skipper once and for all when I capture her," I thought to myself. But I noticed something different about her. Instead of in fear, she looked very determined to do something. She also kept talking to the human. "How did she become friends with a human? Well, he knows my name, so there's something up here. After I capture the two of them, I'll question them," I thought and then started to plan an attack. (P to Marlene and myself)

"Hey, Marlene. I'm trying to weigh our options here, so I've got a quick, kind've odd question," I said to her. "Go ahead," Marlene said curiously. "Well, you've said before that _you have the power to control your savage side_. ** Does that mean you have the power to suppress it or use it? It's all right if you don't want to answer that question, by the way," I said.

"Well, on some of my dates with Skipper we actually tried that. The first few times I tried, I, uh, well, it didn't work," she explained. "Oh. Then forget I said anything," I said apologetically. "Wait, I didn't finish. As we tried more often, I eventually could. However, I'll only use it in a last-ditch scenario," Marlene finished.

"Then we'll only use it in a last-ditch scenario. Unlike Skipper, who makes Private use his quantum-hypercute a lot," I said. *** "Yeah. I don't want to be feral for very long even when I do use it. A few times I've gone a bit too far and it took Skipper to get me back to normal," Marlene explained. "How'd he do that?" I asked curiously. "Guess," Marlene said slyly.

"A kiss?" I asked. "Yep. Works every time when it comes from him. It must trigger something in my subconscious, as Kowalski would say," she said. "That's sweet. Hopefully you won't have to go feral, though," I said. "Yeah, I hope not," Marlene agreed.

Suddenly, we both heard a blast coming from somewhere. "Duck!" I shouted and we did, dodging the blast. "Well, well. Seems I've finally found you two," Blowhole said as he came closer in his pod. "Mind if I ask you why you're doing this before we fight?" I asked.

"Why not. Well, Skipper stopped me from blowing up the sun and since then he's been my archrival. I've been trying to find a way to get to him and I think I did," Blowhole explained as he glanced at Marlene.

"I remember him saying that," I said. "How did you get to know them?" Blowhole asked of me. "It's a long story," I said. "Well, when I capture you two, you'll have plenty of time to tell me," Blowhole said. "The correct word is if," Marlene said.

"Well, haven't you grown up fast?" Blowhole taunted. "Don't underestimate me. That was a cheap shot back at the zoo," Marlene said. "Touché. Well, we don't have all day," Blowhole said. With that, we started to fight.

He aimed another blast at us, which was red this time. Again, both Marlene and I got out of the way before it hit either of us. We powered up our weapons and got ready. "Take this," Marlene shouted as she shot a dart at Blowhole. He dodged the dart and circled around, preparing to fire again.

Blowhole fired again and we both jumped out of the way as the blast hit a garbage can. It suddenly was inside a cage. "Careful of the blasts, Marlene! If you get hit, you'll wind up in a cage!" I warned her. I think she acknowledged me by firing two more shots at Blowhole. One missed entirely, but another hit his Segway, knocking it out.

"Hey, I need that!" Blowhole shouted as he landed a bit roughly on the floor. "Work, darn you!" Blowhole was shouting, while pressing buttons. Since he was temporarily distracted, Marlene and I both took our chance to regroup inside of a store. "How many darts do you have left?" I asked of her. "About a dozen," she replied. "How many did we start with?" I asked. "We started with fifteen darts," she replied again.

"I've got an idea. You distract Blowhole by firing some shots at him while I try to get behind him and stun him with the phone," I said. "I'll give you cover fire from behind that box," Marlene said, while pointing at a box outside. "Let's go!" I said. ****

Blowhole had gotten his Segway up and running again, except for the flying part. Marlene jumped behind the box and started shooting darts every few seconds so I could get across the street. Blowhole was more concerned with her at the moment, so I took my opportunity and got across the street. *****

Marlene stopped firing when she saw I had gotten across the street. Blowhole kept trying to get her encaged. He kept missing and hitting the various boxes and garbage cans she kept jumping behind. "Stand still!" Blowhole shouted at her. I started creeping towards Blowhole, ready to shock him.

Suddenly, one of the blasts hit a mirror and gained speed towards me. I quickly dodged it even though it came within an inch of myself. I turned the amount of shock to full on the Taser and tried to hit Blowhole. I missed, but once again got his Segway. "Quit doing that!" he shouted.

Again, Marlene and I ran down the street to regroup. "How many do you have now?" I asked. "I've got five. How much charge does the Taser have?" she asked. "It's got about…" I started to say, but the case starting sparking like something had gone wrong. To protect both of us, I threw the case off my phone to a few feet away, where it caught fire!

"How'd that happen?" I asked. "I did it," Blowhole answered from a few feet away. He started shooting at us again, but we both dodged again. "I hate prototypes," I said as we dodged blasts.

Darn Blowhole for hacking that thing. Please rate and review. See you in chapter 9! Time for a few notes.

* He probably has a telescope or binoculars built into his robot eye.

** I'm quoting Marlene from the end of "Littlefoot."

*** Reference to "Cute-Astrophe", "Littlefoot", and "High Moltage" where Skipper kept making private use the Quantum Hypercute.

**** Marlene's turning into quite the soldier.

***** Seriously, the streets in Downtown San Francisco are wide and long. Street view them on Google Maps.

BONUS: This chapter, towards the end, went through a revision. I hope it works better.


	9. Chapter 9 - A Last-Ditch Option

Time for chapter 9. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting someone. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 9 – A Last-Ditch Option**

"We're running out of options," I said to Marlene as we dodged and she kept firing. We managed to get behind a counter in a restaurant and Marlene fired again. Suddenly she ran out. "That was our final dart," she said. "There's got to be another way to stop him," I said. "I think we've only got one way left," Marlene said softly.

I looked over to her and nodded. "I'm sorry you have to do this Marlene. But I won't let you go too far," I said. "I hope it doesn't go that far," Marlene said. (P to Marlene)

"Going feral isn't ever fun, but it seems like that's all we've got. I've got to try," I thought. I started growling softly to myself, then getting louder and louder until I roared, going feral. I think I frightened both of them as Blowhole backed off away from the restaurant and Matthew just backed off into another area. I guess I can frighten anyone when being feral.

"What is that?!" Blowhole shouted. "Well, that's our final option," Matthew was saying as I kept trying to lay a punch on Blowhole. Darn him for getting around so fast on that Segway. "I mean, literally, what is that?" Blowhole was asking, while dodging me again. "The specific question, is whom. That little otter is Marlene. I swear, you've been watching the Penguins for years and you never knew?" Matthew asked of Blowhole while I still tried to lay a punch on him.

"I never check outside of the…" Blowhole started to say as I finally got him down. I threw him around the street, trying to get him weak enough to stop him so we could Mind Jack him, but not enough to hurt him very much. "You go, Marlene!" Matthew was shouting as I was attacking Blowhole.

"Note to self: Avoid feral… Ouch!" Blowhole was saying before I threw him against a wall. "There's got to be some way to Ouch!" Blowhole said as I threw him against the ground. It looked like he was getting up, but collapsed. "Now's our chance, Marlene!" Matthew shouted.

Realizing what he meant, I ran over to Blowhole's Segway and pressed the red button and the Mind Jacker appeared out of the Segway. I pointed it at Blowhole and shot him with it, then pressed the orange button, which pulled out the laser again. I shot the laser at him and he was entrapped in a cage.

Finally, it was over. I felt such power in myself as I finally had defeated Skipper's and now my archrival. It felt great to be powerful. Nothing stands in my way. "Wait, what?" I thought. "I'm not a monster. I'm a peaceful otter from New York who wouldn't hurt a fly." I realized what was happening. It was going too far. All I could say was "Please help me."

"Just relax, Marlene. Try to relax," Matthew said. I was trying to stop myself, but I was getting on all fours! "It's not working," I squeaked out. "Think of Skipper, then. Think of your dates with him," he kept encouraging.

I thought of my dates with Skipper. The time he gave me snow cones. The time he introduced me to hot snozzles. The time we both swam in the pond. It was slowly working, when my claws started trying to appear!

"Help," I squeaked once again. I was on the verge of losing it completely. "Think of your first kiss with Skipper!" Matthew shouted. "My first kiss with Skipper. It was so beautiful. Finally right then we had admitted we loved each other. We were finally going to be married soon. That kiss was so great and freeing," I thought to myself.

Upon that thought, my claws stopped trying to come out. My fur was no longer standing on end. I got off all four paws and sat down gently on the floor. It worked. I was finally back again. "Thank you," I simply said, shaking a bit. "I'm sorry we almost lost you again. That was too close," he said. "I agree," I said, still shaking a bit. "At least it worked. I really don't want to cause a problem upon the one we already have," I said. (P to myself)

"We got lucky. Look at it, you're back and Blowhole is Mind Jacked. We did it," I said. "So let's figure out how to send him to Seaville," I said. We walked over to the Segway and pushed the blue button. A screen popped up out of the Segway. "This seems simple. It looks like a touchscreen. It should be easy to send him back," I said. I programmed the Portablizer to send Blowhole to Seaville back in their universe.

"Would you care to do the honors, Marlene?" I asked her. "Would I ever. Let's get him out of the cage," Marlene said. I blasted him and he was released from the cage. He started waking up. "Where am I? Who am I?" Blowhole said. "Your name is Flippy and we're sending you home," Marlene said. "Oh, good," Blowhole said, absentmindedly happy.

I activated the Portablizer and a portal appeared nearby. "Bye Flippy," Marlene said. "Bye, otter lady," Blowhole said cheerfully. She threw him through the portal and then I closed it.

"That was awesome!" I said. "One hundred percent mammal awesome. Whoo!" Marlene shouted. "Up high, Marlene!" I shouted back. We high fived at the perfect angle and speed. "So now what?" I asked. "Well, we should probably clean up whatever damage Blowhole did," Marlene suggested. "Good idea," I replied.

We took Blowhole's Segway and both rode it and shot the items that had been in cages and got rid of them. "So what should we do to celebrate? Have a snow cone, have a hot dog or eat some oysters?" I asked. "How about hot snozzles?" Marlene suggested. *

I laughed. "Sure. Also, you're sounding like Skipper again," I said. "I love the taste of hot snozzles. Skipper gave me one on a date," Marlene said. "Well, let's go find pretzels, snow cones, and hot dogs," I said. Thanks to being in downtown San Francisco, we found some quickly.

"I can see why you guys like these, they taste great," I said. "I told you. Now we've got to find the Penguins," Marlene said. "How did you do that?" someone asked. Marlene and I both turned our heads towards the direction the sound came from.

That's it for chapter nine. See you in the next one. Please rate and review this one. Time for a quick note.

* Referencing "I Know Why The Caged Bird Goes Insane" with Skipper's plan of getting hot snozzles from the food cart vendors.

BONUS: This chapter went through a revision, of a sorts.


	10. Chapter 10 - A Reunion

Welcome to the 10th chapter of this story! I hope you like this 2nd book. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting a character. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 10 – A Reunion**

Turning our heads towards the sound, we realized someone was standing there, along with a crowd behind them. "How'd we do what?" I asked. "How did you take down that Dolphin?" the person asked. "Give us a minute," I said.

Marlene and I huddled. * "Do you think we should tell them?" I asked. "I think we should, since it'll be all over your news forever. But let's wait until Skipper and the guys get here," Marlene said. "How far away do you think they are?" I asked. "I don't think they are far. I can feel it," Marlene said. "Did you pick that up from Skipper as well?" I asked. Marlene just shrugged and we turned back towards the person.

"We'd like to tell you, but we need permission from our commanding officer first," I said. "Who is that? Are you from the army?" the person asked. "Sort of," Marlene answered. "I never thought animals could talk, until today," the person said, walking back to the crowd. (P to Skipper)

"How far are we away from San Francisco, Kowalski?" I asked. "We're in San Francisco, we just need to get downtown, which should take five minutes," Kowalski answered. "Where is everybody going?" Private asked, looking out the window. Outside, we could all see many humans walking in one direction.

"Analysis, Kowalski," I said. "It seems the humans are heading to the same place, probably due to an event," Kowalski said. "Let's go there too," I said. We drove around a few corners and saw a very large crowd forming around something. As we got closer, I saw it was the human Matthew, Blowhole's Segway, and… Marlene? My heart skipped a beat seeing her for the first time in hours, obviously safe.

Realizing what must've happened, I spoke to my men. "Men, I think those two defeated Blowhole by themselves. Remind me to promote them." They all looked happy, knowing those two had defeated our archenemy. I felt happy myself, knowing Marlene had kept her head cool under all this pressure and that she had learned well. (P to myself)

I noticed a car coming towards us, a Prius, in fact. Peering at the steering wheel, I could see a small black and white figure. "Marlene, I think that might be them," I said. Her expression turned into pure joy and love, knowing Skipper was finally here.

The doors on the car opened, and sure enough, it was the Penguins. "Marlene!" Skipper shouted and started running towards her. "Skipper!" Marlene shouted and also started running towards him. They met in the middle of where I was standing and the crowd. They both kissed, happy to be back together again. "Aww," the rest of the Penguins and I said.

All the other people looked extremely confused. "A penguin and an otter?" someone asked, confused. "How is that possible?" another person asked. Seeing this as a prime time to speak up, I motioned for the other Penguins to help me guard the two. We got around them and I said protectively, "If you've got a problem with that, then you'll have to go through me." "And me," Private said. "Myself included," Kowalski said. "Me too," Rico mumbled.

Suddenly Skipper and Marlene both realized they were being stared at, but still backed off slowly. "Hello sir," I said to Skipper and saluted. "Hello, soldier. How'd you two stop Blowhole?" Skipper asked. "We want to know that as well," someone said, coming up with a camera and microphone, obviously a reporter. "Huddle," I said to the five, away from the camera.

"Do you think we should tell them, Skipper? No matter what happens, they'll still have a record of today," I explained. "Seeing as how badly Blowhole has damaged your dimension, I say we should," Kowalski said. "What do you think Marlene?" Skipper asked. "I think we owe everyone an explanation, considering what happened. Unless you've got a stopwatch, amnesia mist, and a way to quickly delete all records of this off the Internet, we're stuck," Marlene said.

"Seems like we have no choice, since we lack all those today. But I'd like to do it in a proper way, at a press conference, like any commanding officer should," Skipper said. "Luckily, I know the perfect place for that," I said. To the crowd, I said, "If you could all follow us to Moscone, we'd be happy to explain what happened." The six of us got on the Segway and started heading there, with the crowd in tow.

We got onto one of the stages and found microphones for all of us, that way everyone could hear. I think we all felt a bit nervous, considering the bombshells we were about to drop onto the planet. After all the various news companies got the cameras, personal microphones, and other stuff in place, it was time to start.

Chapter 10 is a little short, I know. At least Skipper and Marlene are finally back together again. The next chapter will be longer. Please rate and review this chapter. I've only got one note today.

* I'm referencing every episode ever where anyone got into a group and discussed a plan, such as in "Crown Fools" when Marlene helped the Penguins come up with a plan to get Julien's crown or "Best Laid Plantains" when the Penguins were agreeing on who stole the ape's plantains.


	11. Chapter 11 - A Few Questions

Welcome to chapter 11. As usual *'s means notes, (P) means a perspective change, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting a character. Let's see how this goes, eh?

**CHAPTER 11 – A Few Questions**

"Are you guys ready?" I asked the five, covering my microphones. They all nodded, knowing that what we were about to do would change the world forever. "We're ready when you guys are," I said to the crowd. Suddenly, the crowd raised their hands, begging to ask questions. "Yes, you there," I said, pointing at someone.

"My first question is, who are all of you?" the first reporter asked. We all then said our names: "My name is Matthew," I said. "My name is Skipper," he said. "My name is Kowalski," he said. "My name is Rico," he said as best as he could. "My name is Private," he said. "My name is Marlene," she said.

"How are you all talking?" a different reporter asked. We all looked at Kowalski. "I truly do not know. The math against you being able to understand us is very high, yet we can," Kowalski answered. "Next question," I said. Again, all the reporters wanted to ask a question.

"Who was that dolphin and what did he want?" asked a 3rd one. Skipper answered this time. "That dolphin was Dr. Blowhole, my arch nemesis. How he specifically chose to end up here, we don't know. We do know he wanted to try to get to me through her," Skipper said, pointing at Marlene. "Why did he try to use you against Skipper?" someone asked of Marlene.

"Well, he must have been watching we were doing at our home and found out he could use me," Marlene answered. "What were you doing at your home?" someone asked. "We were getting married," Skipper and Marlene answered. Everyone was shocked at that statement, except for us, of course. "How is that possible?" someone asked. "Love transcends all differences," I said. * I think that made them quiet for a moment, before someone asked, "So where do you all live?"

"Well, I live nearby, but it's a bit of a different story for them," I said. "We all live at the Central Park Zoo in Yew York City, except not the one here," Private said. "What do you mean not the one here?" a reporter asked. "Well, we have come from an alternate universe, where some things are different, but much is the same," Kowalski answered.

"What do you mean alternate universe?" they all asked curiously. We all looked at each other, knowing what might happen next, and then I spoke up. "Well, they're technically from a television show." "How is that possible? You can't break the fourth wall," someone said.

"Well they did, thanks to Kowalski," I said. "How did you get involved anyway?" someone asked of me. We all looked at each other, then told the story from our perspectives. First of Kowalski's invention, then my discovery of them, then the reveal of the TV show, the snack run, the lab, the ensuing other stuff after, and of course, Skilene.

"Go ahead and search Skilene on your devices you have. There's a lot of it out on the Internet," I said. Everyone who was previously hanging on every word immediately took out their phones, tablets, etc. and searched it. They all gasped when they discovered it was a thing and was real. My phone was buzzing like mad in my pocket, so I turned on "Do Not Disturb" to make it stop, but not before noticing my mentions from social media had exploded, as did my email and texts. **

As I was putting my phone back, it amused me that all this was happening. Never did I think this kind of thing could ever happen, let alone them coming here in the first place. "So it is real? All of it?" one of the reporters finally asked. I AirPlayed the photos we had taken when this had first happened to the TV. ***

"Of course it's true," Skipper and Marlene said, before kissing for a little bit. It's always great to see them doing fun little things like that. This still shocked the audience, which amused all of us. "One final question," I said. Immediately, everyone who hadn't asked their question did the waving hands and shouting thing again. "You there," I said, pointing at our final reporter. "How are you all going to get home? Aren't you kind of stranded here without that invention that Kowalski made?" they asked.

"Luckily, we've got this now," I said, pointing to the Segway behind us. "It used to be Blowhole's and it's got a portal function, so that's how we'll get them home," I answered. "Thank you for your time today," I said wrapping up the press conference. "Ready guys?" I asked everyone. They all hopped on the Segway, so I guess they were.

"Where are you going?" one of the people near the front asked me. "To the wedding, which I invited him to," Marlene said. "That's right," Skipper said. "Great. Now let's go," I said. "We can't go?" someone again asked. "There's been enough damage already," Skipper and I replied. I activated the Portablizer and set it not to the HQ, but to my house for a quick stop, unbeknownst to the five for the time being. "Once again, thank you for your time," I said, before activating the Portablizer.

Once I turned it on, the six of us rode the Segway through the portal, leaving the once again shocked press behind. The Portal closed and we spent a few seconds waiting for the next one to appear. It did and we wound up on the driveway. "Hey, I thought we were going home?" they asked. "There's one thing we need to get first," I said, looking at Marlene.

That's the end of chapter 11. Time for some quick notes.

* I'm quoting that line from near the end of Madagascar 2 that Alex's father says.

** Seriously, this is one of the best phone features ever made. It makes your iPhone not vibrate, it doesn't light up, and it doesn't ring when you get a notification. It's like it didn't come in, even though it did.

*** One of the best technologies made by Apple. Just Google "AirPlay" and click on the first result.

BONUS: I would have used names of actual famous reporters, but due to the rules of FictionPress, I cannot.


	12. Chapter 12 - I Do

It is time for chapter 12. Lots of Skilene is here. As usual, *'s = notes, (P) = perspective change, and _italicized_ means quoting a character. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 12 – I Do**

"My wedding dress! I almost forgot! Thanks for remembering!" Marlene exclaimed happily. "No problem," I said while opening the house. The dress was still safely packed away, untouched. We carefully took it out with us, but Marlene didn't put it on yet, in order not to spoil Skipper's surprise later.

"Time to go everyone," I said. "Ready," they all said. I activated the Portablizer and Kowalski set it to send us to inside the HQ in their universe. We pushed the button and the portal appeared, and we drove through it. Inside, it was taking a few minutes, which I guessed was due to crossing universes. Suddenly, a minor pain happened to me. "Oww, that hurts," I said. "What hurts?" they asked. "Everything," I answered.

Suddenly I was getting smaller. "Kowalski, what's happening?" I asked the scientist. I realized my feet were turning into orange little feet and my hands were turning into flippers. "I can't say for certain, but I'd say you're turning into a Penguin," he explained. "Can you work the math on that?" I asked, while growing feathers. *

As Kowalski was doing so, were all blinded by a flash that seemed to be coming from me. After it subsided, we recovered and we were all shocked at what happened. I had become a Penguin, just like the guys! "Kowalski, what's the math on this?" I asked. "The odds of this were 10 million to one, but it happened anyway," Kowalski answered.

"How come we don't turn into humans when we go to your universe?" Marlene asked. "I think that's because technically, human versions of you exist, at least in the eye of my universe. At least this solves the problem of how I'm going to be at the wedding," I replied.

Suddenly, a Portal opened up and we could see it was the inside of the HQ. The five looked relieved to go home, but I was ecstatic. I will finally visit a place I only dreamed of visiting, which was their dimension. We went through the Portal and arrived. "This place is amazing!" I said. "Welcome to the HQ," Skipper said, proudly.

Suddenly the hatch opened up above. "Who's down there?" Becky and Stacy said. "I'll have to watch out for that _badger_ term," I thought to myself. "Relax girls, it's us," Marlene answered. "Great, you're back cousin!" Stacy said. "Where were you?" Becky asked. "We were in his dimension," the five said while pointing at me. "Your dimension?" the badgers asked, confused.

"That's where they were the last time they disappeared, too," I answered. "By the way, I'm Matthew and in my dimension I'm actually a human," I said, introducing myself. "How is a human a penguin?" the badgers asked. "If that's the question, then tell me how a Penguin and an Otter love each other," I said. "Fair point," Stacy said.

"So who are you two girls?" I asked the badgers, not wanting to reveal the show yet. "I'm Becky," she said, eagerly shaking my flipper. "And I'm Stacy," she said right after, also shaking my flipper. **

"So how long were we gone?" Private asked. "About 6 hours, but it's still only 3," Becky answered. Suddenly, we all heard the bell strike thrice. "That sounds even better in person," I commented. "What do you mean?" the badgers asked. "We'll tell you after the wedding," Kowalski answered.

"Do you have your phone still?" Marlene asked, remembering she had promised me that I could be the official photographer. From nowhere, I pulled out my phone. "Somehow I still do. Wow, good service here," I commented, noticing I had five bars. Notifications were still coming in, so I turned them off for the apps that were sending them.

"Kowalski, can I borrow your tripod for this?" I asked of him. "Sure, let me get it from my lab," he replied. When he returned, I put my phone on the tripod and did a test recording. It worked flawlessly. "Let's get going everybody," I said to the seven.

Marlene and the badgers went off to their habitats to put their dresses back on, I assumed. Around me, the Penguins were once again putting on their bow ties. "Here you go soldier," Skipper said, handing me one. "Thank you. So is this an extra one?" I asked, taking it. "Yes. It's good we got a few extra on our missions over the last week," Skipper explained.

"I agree. Thank you for letting me come to the wedding," I told Skipper. "It's the least I can do, seeing as how you and Marlene stopped Blowhole. Where did you send him anyway?" Skipper asked. "Oh, we sent him to Seaville, like you guys did last time," I answered. "That place is worse than Hoboken," Skipper said as he was getting his bow tie and the rings ready.

After about 20 minutes, we were all ready again. I grabbed Kowalski's tripod and my phone and we went to where the altar had been set up earlier. All the animals were there. It was cool to meet them in person. I greeted them, yet left out the part of the alternate universe and the show for now.

After meeting all the zoo residents, I set up the tripod and found the perfect angle for the wedding for the recording. I started recording at the right time. We went through the service, finally arriving at the moment we had all been waiting for. I quickly checked the skies and nothing was there, meaning we would not have any interruptions.

All eyes turned towards Marlene, who was once again coming down the aisle. Finally, she and Skipper would be married, after all this time. Slowly approaching the altar, she was beaming, as everyone was looking at her. She reached the altar, where Kowalski, Private, Skipper, Becky, and Stacy were waiting.

"Do you have the rings?" Kowalski asked Skipper. "Yes Kowalski," Skipper said. It was time. "Do you Marlene, take Skipper to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Kowalski asked Marlene. "I do," Marlene said, smiling. "And do you Skipper, take Marlene to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Kowalski asked Skipper. "I do," Skipper said. "Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Kowalski said. With that, Skipper and Marlene kissed in the most loving embrace. We all cheered and clapped.

After a few minutes, we made our way to another part of the zoo, for the party. I was still recording. The first thing to do was to cut the cake. Skipper cut a piece and handed it on a plate to Marlene, but he tripped and it flew into Marlene's face. "Oops," was all he could say. "You call that an oops?" Marlene replied with a smirk. She cut a piece of cake and threw it at Skipper, smashing in his face. We all laughed. "That was tasty," Skipper said. ***

It was time for dancing. Naturally, Skipper and Marlene went first. They looked so happy and carefree, knowing they were now married forever. That was bringing a smile to everyone's face. After a few minutes, all the other animals joined in. With all the shaking going on, it took all my effort to keep the tripod stable, since I was still filming.

After many hours of dancing, toasts, and the animals wishing the best of luck to the new couple for the camera, it was starting to get late. Skipper and Marlene both walked up to the microphone and thanked everyone for coming to the wedding. The other animals went to their habitats for the night.

"Alright, boys. We need to make sure the public doesn't know what happened, so let's perform Operation: Wedding Clean Up. Private, Kowalski, Rico, and I all went around the zoo, cleaning up the tables, the leftover food, and everything else. "Well done boys, a new record. You know what this means. Snow cones tomorrow!" Skipper announced to us. We all cheered, knowing today had been one of the best of our lives.

That sounds like an awesome wedding. Please rate and review this chapter. See you in the next one. Time for notes.

* Being changed into a penguin or another animal when entering their universe is a popular theme. I guess it makes it a lot easier to go to their universe, eh?

** They shook it the same way they shook Marlene's paw in "Badger Pride."

*** That cake mishap just came to me.


	13. Chapter 13 - Training

Welcome to chapter 13. As usual, *'s means notes, (P) means a perspective change, and _italicized_ words means quotes from a character from earlier. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 13 – Training**

The day after the wedding, we all went to get snow cones in the park. These tasted way better than the ones back home. We were all sitting by the pond in the park, enjoying the beautiful day. "So how would you like to be an officially trained penguin?" Skipper suddenly asked me. "Really? You'd do that?" I asked. "Of course. You helped take down Blowhole without any official training. It's time for you to learn our moves in case this happens again," Skipper answered.

"I think I may have learned some very generic moves thanks to video games and watching you guys, so I'd love to learn more," I said. "We'll teach you everything we know, aside from Rico's regurgitation. None of us except him can do that," Kowalski said. "All of you tried?" I asked curiously. "Yes, and it wasn't fun at all," Marlene answered. I chuckled a bit, trying to imagine all of them trying to swallow things and regurgitate them.

"It went about as well as you're probably thinking," Private said. "Well, I don't know how well these moves will translate when I'm human again, but I might as well try," I said. "Let's get started," Skipper said. For the next few hours, they all took their turns teaching me how to properly punch, kick, fire rockets, and of course, high five in celebration. We practiced the punching and kicking on the trees in the park, since we didn't want to accidentally hurt each other.

"Now it's time to teach you the piece de resistance," Skipper said. "What is that?" I asked eagerly. "The corkscrew," Skipper answered. Suddenly, they all started belly sliding and running towards and then up a tree, spinning in the air and splashing down in the pond in corkscrew fashion. "That was truly awesome guys!" I exclaimed as they walked out of the water. "Thanks," they all said.

"So how long ago did Skipper teach you that move?" I asked. "Well, I taught the men a few days after our dealing with Blowhole and Parker over a year ago. I taught Marlene on one of our dates," Skipper answered. Suddenly Marlene kissed him. "And that's one of the many reasons why I love you," she said. We all looked happily at the two and then we got underway.

It took me a few tries to get the required speed, and that that point we started practicing by jumping into the water from the ground in the form. Finally, after half an hour, it was time. "Are you ready?" Skipper asked. "I was born ready," I answered. "Go!" Skipper shouted. I quickly started belly sliding towards and up a tree and kept my momentum going up. I was excited, but didn't let that distract me.

I leaped off the top of the tree towards the sky and started spinning. Gravity took over and I aligned myself towards the water, now corkscrewing. I hit the water and slowed myself down. I started swimming back towards the shore. I shook myself off when I reached land and waddled over to everyone. "How was that?" I asked. "Congratulations. You are now an official Penguin commando. I hereby make you an official part of our team," Skipper said. I smiled, beaming back at everyone.

"Thank you," I said, shaking flippers with Skipper. "So what's my official title?" I asked. "You helped bridge the divide between our universes, as well as helped all your people come to terms with our existence, so you can be our Chief Public Relations man. * I smiled. "Thanks, Skipper. I promise to do you guys proud on future missions we have together," I said.

With that, we all went back to the zoo, since it was getting pretty late. We were all having so much fun training that we didn't notice how dark it was getting until then. We all filed into the HQ, with Skipper carrying Marlene bridal style. It was a fun sight to see. "Thanks, Skipper," Marlene said after he put her down. "Anything to make you happy," Skipper replied and kissed her.

With that, we talked about how great the past few months had been for all of us. Everyone here had regained control of their lives, Skipper and Marlene had gotten married, and I met some of my favorite animals. We talked about everything for at least another two hours. We all started to get tired and were rubbing our eyes.

Suddenly, the lemur's boom box came on. "Now I know why you hate lemurs," I said to everyone. They all nodded, while we were covering our ears, trying to block out the sound. "Can I have an EMP bomb, Rico?" I asked loudly over the noise. He immediately regurgitated one and I popped out of the HQ with it. I tossed it in the direction of the boom box, where it exploded, knocking it out and came back inside.

Finally, it was quiet again. "I don't know why we hadn't thought of that before," Kowalski said. "Honestly, that was just a guess," I said. "A darn good one," Skipper said. Now that the noise was gone, it was time for Lights Out Protocol. "Goodnight, guys," Marlene said, leaving the HQ to her habitat. "Goodnight Marlene," we said. "Goodnight honey," Skipper said to her. She smiled and then went to her habitat.

"Rico, prepare a guest bed," Skipper said. After he did that, it was time to sleep. "You sure you don't mind me staying here?" I asked. "It's no trouble," Skipper said. "Well, goodnight then," I said. Shortly we fell asleep. (P to the morning)

Suddenly, the alarm woke us all up. "Morning guys," I said to the Penguins. "Good morning," they replied. "Hey, where's Skipper?" I asked, noticing his absence. "Please tell me he didn't go on another solo mission," I said, worrying for him and Marlene. "Let's look at the zoo security footage," Kowalski suggested.

Thanks for reading. Please rate and review. I'll see you in the next chapter. Time for the usual note.

* Is there a military term for this? I remember seeing one somewhere, but can't remember it. Please PM me or leave the term in the review if you know what it is.


	14. Chapter 14 - A Temporary Substitute

Welcome to chapter 14. As usual's *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) means a perspective change, and _italicized _words means I'm either quoting a character or reading something. So let's read.

**CHAPTER 14 – A Temporary Substitute**

We all watched the footage on the TV and saw that Skipper had left about a half hour before the rest of us woke up and had headed to Marlene's home. We all jumped out of the HQ towards her habitat, landing in the pond. "Marlene?" we asked, while walking in the cave. Mysteriously, she wasn't there either, but there was a note. The note said, _Good morning, men. Go to the car. Signed, Skipper_. "Why would he tell us to go there?" Private asked aloud. I suspected something, but wasn't sure yet.

We all belly slid towards where the car usually is, behind the pillar inside of the clock tower. We opened the pillar and there was nothing there, except for another note. I picked up the note and read it aloud.

_Good prompt action, men. If you haven't guessed where Marlene and I are by now, we've left for our honeymoon. We'll be back in about a week. We already temporarily took Marlene out of the system and Matthew should make a good 4__th__ penguin substitute until we return. Kowalski is in charge, but please; don't take it too far like last time._ *_ We'll see you soon._ The letter was signed, _Sincerely Skipper_, in his handwriting and _Love, Marlene_ in her handwriting.

"So they went on their honeymoon, eh? I hope they have fun, wherever they went," I said. "Alright, gentlemen, Skipper has placed me in charge again," Kowalski said authoritatively. "Kowalski, he said not to take it too far," Private reminded him. "Sorry. My mistake. Let's just do what we normally do, since we don't lack a 4th penguin this time," Kowalski suggested. We closed the pillar, hiding the spot from everyone and made our way back to the HQ.

"I'm sure glad you guys trained me in being cute and cuddly along with the rest of the training," I said. "It was our pleasure," Private said. We arrived back at the HQ, making breakfast. Thankfully, we had actual fish, and not the phony fish cakes. **

A few hours later, it was time for the zoo to open. We were eagerly waiting for Alice to start selling the fish we would get to eat later. After she sold it, first we played hard to get, making the crowd restless. After a few seconds, it was time.

"Let's make it extra cute and cuddly today," Kowalski said, taking over Skipper's usual lines. For the next few minutes, we danced around on the island, performing belly slides, waddling in cute ways, pretending to fall into the pool, and many other cute and cuddly antics. ***

We stopped after a few minutes, at which point the crowd literally dumped pounds of fish on us. "Wow, this is a lot of fish," I said after the crowd dispersed. "I calculate this is 10% more fish than usual," Kowalski said. "I can see why you guys like doing that," I said to them all after eating one of the fish. "It's jolly good fun," Private said.

A few hours later, the zoo was closed, which meant we were now free to do whatever we wanted again. "What should we do now?" I asked Kowalski. "You recharged your phone during the day inside, so we should probably see what's going on in your dimension," Kowalski said. We made our way down the ladder and headed into Kowalski's lab. "Do you think I'm still on my universe's connection, Kowalski?" I asked, wondering if my phone had somehow joined a network here.

"I calculate there is a 98% chance of that being the case," Kowalski replied. With that, we turned the phone back on and placed it on the table. It booted, got the connection, and then thousands of notifications started pouring in. "I guess that answers the question. I've never got this many notifications before," I said.

We went to the browser and navigated to Google News. The top articles were still about us. "I guess we caused a big stir, right guys?" I asked the group. "How are you going to tell your family next week?" Private asked, concerned. "Well, since they probably know what happened by now, I don't know. Do you have any options, Kowalski?" I asked him.

"I'd suggest telling them everything from the beginning, including the parts we left out for the press," Kowalski suggested. "Thanks for the idea. Speaking of explaining things, do you still have a computer? I'd like to make a DVD of the wedding for Skipper and Marlene," I said.

"Well, after Skipper ordered us to destroy Kowalski's hard drive when Chuck Charles worked here, he lost it for a bit," Private explained. "Oh, right. I forgot. But I do remember Marlene saying something back at the start of the adventure," I said. "What?" the penguins asked curiously.

"I remember her saying she wanted to get you guys and herself some phones so you could all communicate better. Maybe we could get some for them as a wedding present when they return, along with a new computer to manage the phones," I suggested.

"We don't have that many sardines," Kowalski said sadly. **** "I don't know if it'll work or not, but I've still got my wallet with me somehow. Maybe I could pay for them," I said. "Good. We'll go to the store tonight. What did you have in mind?" Kowalski asked.

"Well, I'd say we should get waterproof phones, but I don't know if those exist here yet," I said. "We can go check at the store downtown on 5th Avenue," Kowalski said. "Kowalski, I don't know if you have Apple Stores here or not, but if that's what you're talking about, that one is open 24 hours and iPhones aren't waterproof," I replied.

"Oh, I was talking about the actual cell phone store," Kowalski explained. "That sounds like a plan then," I replied. We spent the next few hours devising a plan to get in the store, pay for the phones, set up service for them, and leave. (P to that night)

"Alright, roll out men," Kowalski said. "How long will it take us to get downtown Kowalski, because we don't have a car at the moment," I asked. "Considering we can belly slide and jump from object to object, I'd say no more than 20 minutes," Kowalski explained. "I wish I could move that fast back home. Let's move out!" I said.

Twenty minutes later, we had reached our destination. "Rico paperclip," Kowalski asked him. Rico regurgitated one and handed it to Kowalski. He successfully picked the lock. "Wait, what about alarms? You know what happened on that snack run," I reminded Kowalski. ***** "Rico, aerosol can," Kowalski said. Once again, Rico regurgitated the item and we sprayed it towards inside.

Suddenly, a laser appeared in front of us, but we jumped over it easily. We sprayed again, but this time no more security lasers appeared. "They really should get better security here," I said. "Alright everyone, read the descriptions of the phones to see if they are waterproof," Kowalski said.

After a few minutes, we found one. "Alright, here comes the test to see if money is multi-universal," I said before swiping my card. Somehow, it worked. "I wonder if it's billing me or some poor person who has the same card here," I wondered to the group. We bought five phones, along with unlimited everything plans and exited the store, making sure to lock it back up and not walk through the alarm laser.

"I'd say mission accomplished," Kowalski said as we belly slid back to the HQ. "You've got gift wrap for the two phones for them, right?" I asked. Next to me, Rico nodded. "Good. We'll wrap them up when we get back," I said. (P to two days later)

It was Friday and Alice had closed the zoo for repairs on the children's area, so we were able to relax in the HQ. I walked into Kowalski's lab, curious to see what he was working on today.

"What are you working on Kowalski?" I asked him. "I'm working on a new Multi-Dimensional Walkie Talkie, that way you'll be able to contact us and vice versa when you return home," Kowalski explained. "I was actually just going to ask you about that. Thanks for the invention, in advance," I said.

"It's no trouble," he said. "Do you think the humans here can understand me, like they can understand you guys back home?" I asked. "I'd think so, but I wouldn't push our luck," Kowalski said. "I remember you wishing for the plasma blaster and were all discovered when you set it to Turbo," I replied. ****** "Once again, that was all in Private's mind, but I get your point," Kowalski said. "Yes, I definitely don't want to cause any detrimental damage like Blowhole did back in my universe," I replied.

That's it for chapter fifteen. Please rate and review. Time for notes.

* I'm referencing when Kowalski took over from Skipper when the Blue Hen messed with the PELT tests in "PELT".

** I'm referencing "Go Fish" with the phony fish.

*** I'm using the antics from the beginning of "Go Fish" and from "Field Tripped."

**** I'm referencing the sardine to money conversion in "The Most Dangerous Game Night".

***** I'm referencing that episode again, this time when Kowalski forgot to double check for silent alarms.

****** I'm referencing "Wishful Thinking" where Kowalski's invention went wrong, again.


	15. Chapter 15 - Game Night

Welcome to chapter 15. Like usual, *'s means notes, (P) means a perspective change, and _italicized_ words means I'm quoting a character or reading. Let's read.

**CHAPTER 15 – Game Night**

For the next two days, we continued doing various missions around the zoo, such as cleaning drainage in habitats, feeding animals Alice forgot to feed, and making absolutely sure no one would be transferred into Marlene's habitat while she and Skipper were gone.

"It doesn't look like Alice is planning to transfer anyone into Marlene's habitat," Kowalski said. We were once again checking the computer in the office at night to make sure no transfers would happen. "That's a relief. I really don't want to affect them in any way," I replied.

"I do hope they're having fun, wherever they are," Private said, back at the HQ. "We could find out," Kowalski said. "What do you mean?" I asked him, curiously. "Since Skipper had disappeared after Blowhole Mind Jacked him, he put GPS chips into all of us, in case any of us would be Mind Jacked as well," Kowalski explained. "He didn't do that to me, right?" I asked, wondering of Skipper's intentions and how he could possibly do that.

"I don't think so. I could run a few tests to see if he did," Kowalski explained. "Ok. Please just be careful," I said. Kowalski tested many instruments on me, and, miraculously none of them affected me in any way. "So what are the results, Kowalski?" I asked, curiously. "I see no trace of any GPS chips anywhere, except for the one built into your phone," Kowalski replied. "That's a relief. But did he put one in Marlene as well as you guys?" I asked.

"I can't say for certain. If he didn't yet, he'll probably do it when he gets back, in order to protect her from anyone, in case she's threatened with a transfer or is abducted," Kowalski explained. "As long as he only uses it for that purpose, then that's good," I replied.

"So what do you normally do on Saturday nights?" I asked. "It's game night!" Private said gleefully. "As long as the game isn't Hot Potato, then I'd love to play," I said. * "Skipper's not here, which means we don't have to play that game," Kowalski explained. "I still don't understand how that's a game when it seems more like a training exercise," I said. "Neither do we, but at least it's a good training exercise," Private said.

"Since you're here, why don't we let you pick the game?" Kowalski suggested. "Really? Sweet. I'd say we should play video games, but we lack thumbs, so…" I said. "It certainly is disappointing Mother Nature did not gift penguins with opposable thumbs," Kowalski said.

"There's good and bad merits to both Penguins and humans, I guess. But that's one thing I'll like having again back home. What are some popular board games here?" I asked. "I know Marlene managed to get many when she organized the zoo's first game night, so we could look at some of those," Kowalski suggested. "That sounds like a good idea. Where did she put all those games?" I asked. "I believe she put them in her habitat," Kowalski replied.

"Well, let's go look and grab a few," I said. With that, we once again headed to Marlene's place to look for board games. It still felt a little odd waddling in and not seeing her, but at least both of them would be back soon. "Found them!" Private said. "Good job. So what games are here?" I asked.

"It looks like she's got Parcheesi, cards, jacks, and a game called Sorry," Private said. ** "Sorry? I swear, there's more similarities between our universes than I thought," I said. "So you've played it before?" Private asked. "I loved playing it as a kid. I haven't played it in awhile, but I still remember how to play," I said happily. "So the game is Sorry?" Kowalski asked. "Yep. Let's put the other games back before we go back," I said. After we cleaned up the habitat, we headed back.

"So what is the objective?" asked Kowalski. "You win if you can get all four of your pieces into the _Home_ area. But when you pick a card, you need to follow the instructions of the card you get. If you get a _Sorry _card, specifically, you can replace any piece in your _Start_ area with any piece of any opponent and the opponent's piece is sent back to their _Start_. "Sounds like fun!" Private said cheerfully.

With that, we got underway. We quickly got our first pieces out of the _Start_ area and onto our board. We eventually got onto our 2nd and 3rd pieces throughout the game as well. Out of nowhere, Private drew a _Sorry_ card. We all looked at him nervously, wondering whom he would pick.

"Sorry, Matthew," Private said as he replaced my third piece with his. "Darn. Good move, Private," I said. "Thank you," Private said. Eventually, the game ended and Private won. "Good game Private," I said. "Thanks. That was really fun. I hope we can get Skipper to play when they get back," Private said. "I'm sure Marlene will find a way to do that," I said, which made us all laugh.

"It still feels them strange without them here, though. The zoo doesn't feel complete without them," I said. "I miss them," Private said. "Don't worry, Private. I'm sure they miss us as well," Kowalski said. (P to Skipper and Marlene on a beach somewhere)

Marlene sighed and said, "I wish this could last forever." "Me, too, Marlene. Me, too," Skipper said. They then kissed. "I wonder how they're all doing back home. I sure do miss those guys," Marlene said. "I'm sure they're doing fine. I miss them as well," Skipper said. "It's almost as if our lives don't feel complete without them, even though we're finally married," Marlene said.

"I agree completely. Those guys are like a family to us," Skipper said. "Even our newest friend, Matthew?" Marlene asked. "Yes, even him. I'm sure without him, we would have been lost in that universe, possibly being separated from each other," Skipper said. "I sure wouldn't want to be away from my favorite Penguin," Marlene said, kissing Skipper again. "And I wouldn't want to be anywhere without my favorite Otter," Skipper said, kissing her back. They both then fell asleep on the beach next to each other. (P back to the zoo in two days)

Once again, it was another day without the couple. After a quick breakfast, we went to the zoo office to make sure no new otters were being transferred in. "Luckily, it seems there's still no transfer of any new otters," Kowalski said. "I'm glad for that. I still don't trust Alice," I said, with a slight smirk.

"At least she's a better zookeeper than X was. With him around, we could barely do anything without him foiling us and saying one-liners in the process," Kowalski said. *** "One-liners are never fun when they're used against you," I agreed.

Once again, we performed for the crowd and got our usual resupply of fish. "How many days until they come back, Kowalski?" Private asked. "Well, they left last Wednesday and today is Monday, so they should be back in two days' time," Kowalski replied. That brought a smile to our faces, knowing the happy couple would soon be returning home.

That's it for chapter 15. Please rate and review. Time for notes.

* I'm referencing "Kanga Management" where the Penguins accidentally blew up part of Leonard's habitat by playing Hot Potato.

** I intend no copyright infringement to Hasbro, who owns the rights to the game.

*** I'm referencing "The Officer X Factor" where X kept foiling the Penguins plans to get to the East River.


	16. Chapter 16 - The Return

Welcome to chapter 16. *'s = notes, (P) = perspective change, and _italicized_ = quoting or reading. Let's read this chapter.

**CHAPTER 16 – The Return**

Going to bed on Tuesday night was hard, seeing as we were all excited for tomorrow, when Marlene and Skipper would return. Luckily, there still was no transfer scheduled for any new otters. I think we were all getting slightly paranoid at that, but it definitely needed to be done. *

"Hey, let's prepare the HQ to welcome them back when they arrive," I suggested. Hoping doing so would tire us out and bring joy to their faces, we set to work preparing signs saying _Welcome Back Skipper and Marlene_ and getting balloons, oysters, and fish in places for them. Not to mention, of course, the phones and computer we had gotten as wedding gifts, along with their DVD of the wedding. **

Doing all that finally tired us all out and we shuffled into the bunks and guest bed. I was still in the guest bed because no one can take Skipper's place. I didn't mind at all, though. (P to tomorrow)

At the sound of the alarm, we all woke up fast, making sure the final decorations were in order for when they came back later that day. For a final time, we checked Alice's computer and there were still no new otters coming. We cleaned Marlene's habitat until it was spotless. (P to Skipper and Marlene)

"Ready to go Marlene?" Skipper asked his wife. "I'm ready. This is for good luck," Marlene said before kissing him. They just stared at each other, getting lost in each other's eyes before getting in the car and heading back home. (P to the Zoo)

The crowds came and went and actually gave us even more fish than we had earned the first day we had performed without Skipper. Maybe some of our excitement reflected onto the crowd or we did a better job, hoping to make the two proud of us when they got back in a few hours. We swapped out the fish from yesterday with more fresh ones we had just earned. We almost couldn't wait for the zoo to be closed so we could welcome the two back without any humans questioning where they came from.

"Kowalski, can we go put them back into the system?" I asked the scientist after the zoo closed. "Alice is now gone for the night, so it's safe to do so," Kowalski said. We quickly put Marlene back into the system on the computer in the office as the only otter of the zoo and brought Skipper back as a 5th penguin, so Alice wouldn't think it was weird there were supposed to be only 4 penguins when there was actually 5.

We hid away the presents, but kept the decorations up, eagerly waiting. Suddenly, an alarm beeped. It was the garage's pillar opening. It wouldn't be long now until they came back here.

A few minutes later, they did, with Skipper carrying Marlene down the ladder. "Welcome back, you two!" we shouted. They both blushed, or at least it looked like they were. "Thank you," they both said. "So how was your honeymoon?" I asked. They both smiled. "It was great. We went down to Florida and spent our time at the beach," Marlene said. We quickly smiled back.

"Were there any problems back here?" Skipper asked, ready to judge us. "Everything went exceptional, Skipper. We actually pulled off some new missions, thanks to Matthew," Kowalski said. I blushed a bit. "Oh, what kind of missions?" Skipper asked curiously.

We then ran into the lab and came back out with the gifts wrapped in the wrapping paper. "We got you these presents!" I exclaimed happily. They took the gifts and started opening them. The first thing they opened was their wedding DVD, complete with the title "The Wedding of Marlene and Skipper" along with a picture of them on the DVD.

"Thank you men," Skipper said. "This is great, thanks guys," Marlene said. "It's no trouble. Go ahead and open the next present," I said, pointing my flipper at another box. They both tore through the wrapping paper eagerly. "Wow, a computer of our own!" Marlene exclaimed. "Yep. Now whenever you need to look something up, you don't need to risk Alice finding you on her computer anymore. I actually made it so that it connects to the zoo's network, allowing you to change things in the system too," I said.

"Now this is one valuable asset," Skipper said, thanking us. "Now go ahead and open your last present," I said, pointing to the two remaining boxes in wrapping paper. "One for each of us?" Marlene asked curiously. "Open them and you'll find out why," I simply said.

They opened the packing again to find the two phones we had gotten for them last week. "Wow, this is great! Now we'll be able to communicate easier!" Skipper said. "How did you ever afford all this stuff?" Marlene asked, smiling. "Actually, I paid for it, I think. Somehow the machine at the store took my card. I still don't know if it billed me or some poor person who has the same numbers here," I said.

"So how many did you get?" Skipper asked. The three penguins pulled out their phones, showing them off to Skipper. It was easy to tell whose was who, even though they were similarly designed. Private's was light blue, Rico's was red, Kowalski's was green, Skipper's was black, while Marlene's was brown.

"It's a really nice phone," Marlene said, excitedly exploring it. "And it's waterproof. I'd still try to keep it out of water for long periods of time, though," I explained. "Thanks so much for all the gifts!" Marlene exclaimed happily, hugging me. I hugged her back, "You're very welcome," I said.

"Where's your phone?" Skipper asked of me. "I don't know if it would latch onto the networks back home or not, so Kowalski actually made something else," I explained. "It's called the Multi-Dimensional Walkie Talkie and I completed it yesterday," Kowalski said. "There are actually two of them. One will stay here, while you'll take the other one to your dimension," Kowalski explained.

"Sounds like you boys performed exceptionally. I don't even see any residue from a failed experiment on the walls," Skipper said. "Thank you Skipper," we all said. "So how did keep any other Otters out of the zoo?" Skipper asked. "I think some of your paranoia rubbed off on us," I said. "We checked every morning and night on Alice's computer to make sure there were no transfers of any new Otters," Kowalski explained.

"There's only one Otter that belongs here and she's here right now," I said. Marlene then hugged all of us again. "Thanks for protecting me from Alice. I don't know what I would do if I were transferred or replaced," Marlene said. "We don't know what we would do either. The zoo didn't feel complete without you two," Private said.

"So how was your first week of being a Penguin?" Skipper asked me. "It was fun, like when we acted cute and cuddly for the guests. It was exciting to go on missions and then complete them, knowing we had done well," I reported. "Then it seems we trained you well," Skipper said, saluting. I saluted back and then we shook flippers.

Yay, they're back! That's also the end of chapter 16. Please rate and review. Time for notes.

* Good on paranoia. It protected Skipper and Marlene.

** I think I may have forgotten how to explain how we got the computer. We got it the next night from the computer store and once again, the card worked.


End file.
